Neither Bound Nor Free

Janaka: "Master, I have understood something strange. I am neither bound nor free. I cannot even say I have become liberated."

Ashtavakra: "Why not?"

Janaka: "Because liberation implies there was bondage. But when I look for the one who was bound, I cannot find him. There was only ever ignorance — a case of mistaken identity. The Self was never actually caught in anything."

Ashtavakra: "And the world of appearances?"

Janaka: "It continues as before. The sun rises, the kingdom needs governing, this body grows hungry. But I no longer mistake these appearances for reality, nor reality for appearances. They float in me like reflections in a mirror."

Ashtavakra: "Does the mirror care what is reflected?"

Janaka: "No, and neither do I. Beautiful or ugly, pleasant or painful — the mirror reflects impartially. I have become like that mirror — without preference, without rejection, simply reflecting what is."

Ashtavakra: "And if someone calls you liberated?"

Janaka: "I would say they are still thinking in terms of bondage. I am prior to such concepts. Call me bound or free, wise or foolish — these are just labels appearing in awareness. They do not touch what I am."

Ashtavakra: "Now you have gone beyond even the teaching."

Janaka: "There is nowhere to go. This was always the case. I simply stopped dreaming I was somewhere else."